


Parks & Restoration

by Ellewithanl



Category: Parks and Recreation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:01:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23173591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellewithanl/pseuds/Ellewithanl
Summary: The year  2 0 2 6, seems to be promising to a certain Leslie Knope as she runs for the governor of Indiana, unbeknownst to her, a world of problems is soon to follow her and her friends as they all find themself back in Pawnee.
Relationships: Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate, Ann Perkins/Chris Traeger, Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	1. homecoming

L E S L I E K N O P E, was many, many things.

A wonderful mom, a hard-working employee, an inspiring feminist, an intense boss [she prefered passionate] a woman of action, a goal-getter.

But above all, no matter how many words could be used to describe her, good or bad, chill was not in the repertoire.

Leslie paced the width of her office, her eyes occasionally glancing towards the window directly behind her to see Craig yelling his head off about god knows what into his phone, but other than that, the courtyard was barren.

The window was cracked open slightly, mainly because the sweet smell of pawnee air [granted from the Sweetums factories air pollution] was a nice change to the humid weather she was used to back in D.C.

Despite him being a congressman, Leslie and Ben had found themselves primarily back in Pawnee due to her election.

Never aforethought of the big move was where their politics would take place, thinking that the most obvious solution was to conduct from their house as a sort of political home-base.

Because of their evergrowing triplets and all their own personal agendas as well as their home setup being short of professional they found themselves back at city hall where their story began in the first place, this time, however, in the mercy of Craig as he never seemed to leave and found himself in the position of city manager.

Naturally, he was [not so] happy to lend the once again abandoned first floor to Leslie and her associates.

Once the news had spread that Leslie was running for governor, The United Individuals Non-Profit had full-heartedly put their groups support in Leslie, after all, she had been able to provide a considerable sum of finances and jobs into the organisation.

With Leslie's influence, thinking that the United Individuals helping at-risk youth and clueless adults find meaningful jobs would help the campaign, April found herself as the new CEO of the middle America branch of the non-profit.

Andy, a part-time stay-at-home dad to his darling son, returned to school.

The epiphany had hit him when his son was first born thanks to Donna's husband Joe, that the perfect career was under him this whole time, being a primary school teacher.

That thought alone put a smile on Leslie's face, temporarily distracting her from the madness in her mind.

But the rattle of the door to the room hit the wall with a bang, followed by the door's wood tearing in half, knocked her right back into chaos.

Ben's eyes widened as he looked at the camera, before Leslie again.

"Sorry about that"

"Its fine, I'll call Ron-" she was quick to dismiss.

Ron, while now a park ranger, and though he'd never admit it, a federal government employee, had even found a way to integrate his time to Leslie as well.

Pawnee, never changing, still had an infestation problem. That fact alone was enough to explain the eaten furniture and walls curtsy of the ants, termites, racoon and wild dog populations that all seemed to fight over the arid land of the unused office.

"Anyway, what's up?"

"Well, I have good news but I also need you to not to freak out about the bad news"

Leslie stopped her movement, terror washing over her face "Freak out?! Why would I freak out?-" She let out a long aspirated sigh, her hands frantically grasped around her desk as if she was trying to stabilise herself "oh my god, oh my god, my mom is dying isn't she?"

"what no I-"

"Oh my god, You're dying ?!"

"No-"

"The kids?"

"No, hun, the kids are fine-" he looked around the office as if he was thinking, "They are with Andy and April though so that might actually be a possibility-"

Leslie aggressively exhaled, and for a split second Ben thought she might actually faint "Oh my god bEn, i'M DyInG ?"

"No Leslie, no-one is dying" Ben waved his hand to dismiss her tantrums as he made his way deeper into the office.

"Its JJ's isn't it ?! Are they going out of business?! Oh god, that's so much worst!"

"No Leslie - wait you think JJ's going out of business is worse than me and you and our kids dying?"

"Well, yeah !" Her stare intensified as she looked at Ben, her panic slowly dying down "Life without waffles is not a life to live!"

Ben looked into the camera shaking his head to reorganise his thoughts "Okay, well the good news is you're up two points in the polls, but you're tied for first place with another candidate from Bloomington".

"Okay..." Leslie tightened the grip of her office chair she held for support, wincing "Now, the bad news?"

"Garry just called, they don't think they can get the giant inflatable unicorn for Ann's party in time and I know how important that was to you"

Before Leslie could express her thoughts on the matter, hands slam against the window forcing the two to turn around only to find Craig with his face squished against the glass "What ?!? That's crazy talk how could anyone throw a party without that?! That's pathetic, that's shameful and above it all just plain wrong!"

"What's plain wrong?" Ann knocked on the destroyed and already open door, her head peeking in.

"Oh, the only person in the world that can make me feel better is here!" Leslie immediately made her way to her ethnicity unknown friend, diving in her arms for comfort while Ben stood to the side, flashing a deadpanned look at the camera before shaking his head to dismiss what his wife had been doing since the start of their relationship.

"Ann, I am the worst friend in the entire world, I couldn't get everything for your home warming party in time, I knew I should have started planning it a year ago-" The blonde shook her head disappointedly "You shouldn't let me get extra whipped cream on my waffles at JJ's".

Ann gave Leslie a strange look, opening her mouth to speak, only getting interrupted by Leslie as she pushed herself off of her "That insane, Ann, I can't believe that you would even suggest that!"

"Okay someone needs to take a break " Ann looked towards Ben "How many hours of sleep is she running on?"

"Four?"

"Two" Leslie corrected.

"Okay wow, we're going to need a lot more coffee then I thought because if you don't give me your wholehearted opinion on the most recent lipsync for your life, I'm going to be very upset ".

Leslie wrapped her arm around Ann again "I missed you so much, those eight-hour facetime calls every day really didn't capture your beauty", the sweet moment turned awkward quickly, however.

"Leslie ?" Ann tried, tapping the blond's shoulders in an attempt of liberation.

"Yes?"

"You're suffocating me here".

Leslie finally pulled the two apart "'Sorry I just need to make up for like ten more years of hugs".

Ann smiled at that, putting her arm around Leslie as the two make their way to JJ's diner.

"Oh, Ann?"

"Yes"

"You can fit a thousand balloons in your house, right?"

Ann stopped momentarily, her eyebrows growing together "What!?"

M E A N W H I L E, in the old Eagleton district of Pawnee . . .

" Damn Girl!" Tom gave a wide smiled at the steps of Donna's new home, holding a bottle of champagne as the huge glass doors adorned with massive lion-head door-knockers swung open, revealing an equally excited Donna.

"Pretty sweet, right?"

"Hells yeah baby, now, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, let me just go get my coat real fast" With that Tom followed her into the house.

Donna and Joe, had gotten the idea to move back to Pawnee were do to the inheritance of Donna's families mansion and the promise of a new job running two entirely new charities was enough to get the two back in Indiana.

"Why did you never tell me about your loaded family? I would have let you picked up a lot more tabs when we went out to eat"

"We keep it on the down-low" Donna dismissed "This house was my great Aunts before she died and I was the first to claim it so it's mine, the other family members ended up with the houses in Malaysia, the Philippines, Oregon, Egypt and Germany, so it was chill."

"Damnnnn, mad respect" He held up the liquor bottle as a motion of appreciation only to get it swiped out of his hands by a quick timid looking girl in a maid's outfit.

"Oh that's Olga, ignore her" Donna waved her maid off, walking into her huge living room, her tv the size of that in a movie theatre.

Tom looked into the camera, his eyes lit up as his mouth dangled open.

A N D Y A N D A P R I L ' S, house wasn't quite as large but definitely more chaotic . . .

"Andy, babe, we need to go, Leslie might actually kill us if we're late to another one of her stupid party, I think she tried to take me with her when she picked up the triplets" April made her way around the hallway, her hands reaching up to smooth over her messy hair "Is the monster ready?"

There was no response as April slowly made her way down the wooden steps, her feet hitting the carpet as she repeats "Andy?"

Andy himself paced the width of the kitchen floor, his feet dragging more and more with each step.

He watched cautiously as his wife enters the kitchen, the faintest smile painted across her lips as she buttons the collar of her shirt all the way up, stopping in front of her husband. "Is Jack ready?"

"See about that . . . I, um, kinda, can't find him anywhere"

"Andy!" She stared at him almost dumbfounded "Again? Seriously, dude, this is the third time this week!"

"Yeah, I know, I'm so sorry, I-"

April waved her hand, cutting him off "Well, I guess if we can't find him then we just have to get a new kid, what do you think about adopting a baby vampire?" her eyes narrowed, intrigued with the thought.

Andy's mouth dropped open as if he was about to continue his speech when the tiniest giggle erupted from behind the two.

April moved her eyes slightly as if telling Andy that Jack was in on the joke, a smile cracking on her own lips as she heard Jack jump up from around the corner where the living room met the kitchen with a 'thump' as his tiny feet hit the ground.

"Super spy Jack-Jack got us again, babe !" Andy immediately made his way towards his son, leaning down to the smiling boys level "If you keep this up, Bud, you might be better than Bert Macklin, and he's the best the FBI has ever had".

The little boy giggled at this, his curly hair bouncing "Did I scare you, mommy !?"

April's mouth goes wide as she shook her head "Uh, Yes! Dad and I thought that we definitely lost you, monster" April scooped the two-year-old into her arms to the best of her ability, kissing his tiny pink cheek, as she lightly tapped her fingers against his belly, getting more laughter in response.

"We can be a super-spy later though, my love-"

Seeing his expression dim, April tapped her finger against Jack's plaid shirt once more "But for right now, are you ready to go to see crazy aunt Leslie? We can go play more tricks on uncle Ben, he loves it when you throw all of his ties into the garbage disposal!" She rested her head atop her son's.

"Auntie Laslie !" he cheered back, Andy came up from behind the two, taking Jack into his own arms with a single scoop.

"Babe, you know that you're not supposed to hold Jack you'll squish the baby " Andy carefully rested his hand against April's bulging stomach.

April frowned slightly, her hand running up to rub against Jack's arm "Maybe baby demon spawn will be a goblin or a hobbit!"

"oh, honey, that could be cool but um, where would we even find a preschool for goblins?"

"I dunno, Florida?"

April refocused her attention on Jack again, tossing a silly face as he rested in Andy's arms "Before we go, what does mommy always say to do when we go to Ann's house, monster?"

"Destroy old ladies things!"

April's eyes teared up slightly, Andy himself came to a complete holt just as the two prepared to walk through the door, seeing Aprils distress. "Aww no, why are you crying?"

"I'm just so-" April took a moment to wipe the tears that silently make their way down her cheeks "so proud of him".

M E A N W H I L E, at Ann's house . . .

"And that's when I said, we'll take the martinis without the nun's" Leslie and Ann made their way into the foyer of the Perkins-Traeger's new house, coffee in both of their hands, the whipped cream that atoned Leslie's threatening to spill out with every shake of laughter.

"Oh Ann, you comedic graceful zebra" Leslie pushed the front door of her best friends house open, taking her decorated surroundings in.

Chris along with the ever beautiful, Ann Perkins-Traeger had put the finishing touches on their house in Pawnee, conveniently two doors down from the Knope-Wyatt family, about a week ago.

The move had taken longer than expected, but eventually, they were all settled in.

Despite the few boxes that were sprinkled around the house, it was surprisingly tidy, granted, Ann did have much more time on her hands as a stay at home mom than Ben or Leslie had with both if their jobs.

Even though the house was tidy and quaint, The more Leslie looked around, the stranger it felt.

Pink and blue balloons everywhere, streamers hanging from the ceiling as well as a custom banner all along the lines of:

" baby shower!" "oh, baby!" "babies? more like yay-bes"

"Um, Leslie. . ." Ann looked around, not noticing the blonde beside her eyes had doubled in a matter of seconds. "What is all this?"

"I - I don't know!" Leslie stopped herself for a second, her mouth hung open "Unless . . . You're telling me you're pregnant?! Oh my god, Ann! You beautifully delicious pregnant unicorn!" Almost absentmindedly her hand moved down to Ann's abdomen.

"What ?! No!" The brunette immediately protested, her hand grabbing Leslie's wrist to stop her.

"No, yeah, yeah, of course, you're not pregnant" She shook her head, then suddenly Leslie's head snapped back "Unless you are!"

"Leslie, no! I'm not having another baby"

"Yup, sorry" Leslie's hands crossed in front of her as she continued to look around.

Garry Gergich had what seemed to be a perfect life, Mayor of Pawnee for the last decade. A gorgeous loving wife, three beautiful daughters, a couple of great sons-in-law, even a few grandkids now. In some respects, he even had the perfect friends, just not at that moment in time.

He made his way down the hall of Ann's house, a few cups in his hand, whistling a tune as he often did when he was happy, his face lit up with excitement, his smile doubling as he spots the two stand at the door.

"Well hello, ladies! I know I made a bit of a fuss about coming down here, after all, I did have a very very important meaning as the mayor today, but I'm just so happy I could help, you two know I'd do anything for you and I hope you're enjoying my work" He flashed them the classic bashful Garry smile as he turned around, extending his free hand out to admire the last five hours of decorating he put in.

"No damn it, Garry, this is all wrong!" Leslie shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose as if that would relieve her headache.

"I told you to get the box of party supplies for Ann's home-warming party! These are the things for April's baby shower next week !"

"Oh geez, He went to scratch his neck, a nervous tick if his, with the hand that's not extended outwards, dropping the glass cups he hand under his arm on the floor.

"Great!" Leslie looked down at the shattered glass on the wooden floor "Nice going, Garry! I swear to god, this is the last time I trust you with anything more than farting and being a mediocre city employee! Just go stand in the corner and think about what you've done".

With that Garry lowered his head, walking off to find the nearest corner, as Leslie tapped her foot impatiently on the ground, looking at the watch on her wrist "Plus it's way too late to cancel the party? What are we going to do, Ann save us with your wisdom".

"Okay, just calm down, alright? It's all going to be okay, I'll go call Chris if anyone can spin this to be positive, it's him" With that she pressed her phone to her ear, walking away to another room.

Leslie herself was trying to come up with a plan of her own when the doorbell rang behind her.

"Leslie," Ron shook his head as a greeting as the blonde opened the door not waiting for her to answer.

"So this is the nurse's new house?" He looked around as if he was looking for something in particular "It seems better then the last but the wood isn't varnished as well, I suppose I could stript it down and redo it".

"She's not a nurse anymore, but it's nice to see you too Ron, the meat spread is in the kitchen" She smiled letting him in.

"Hey, Leslie!" Andy followed behind Ron, April at his side looking unimpressed as usual as she held her small son's hand.

Leslie leans in to hug her friend, as they pulled away Andy asked: "I get that this is a baby shower but how are we supposed to wash the baby if it's still inside of April?"

Leslie's eyebrows furrowed together, not over the stupidity of the question, but because he seemed to know about Garry's mistake. "Wait, baby shower?"

Andy reached deep down into his pocket retreating a crumpled piece of paper with a few mysterious stains that Leslie truly didn't want to know what was from.

"It says it right here, see?! May 1st. Ann's housewarming party said May 1st too so I'm assuming after we wash the baby we'll make her house really hot?"

This was all on Leslie, it was her mistake, the campaign had really taken most of her time now, but no this was still probably Garry's fault somehow. 

But at that moment it didn't really matter whose fault it was [still Garry] she would just have to make the most of the double party to the best she could, especially since all the guests were arriving.

"Well, this seems to be a happy little accident" Ann shrugged watching everyone around her enjoying themselves.

"Thank god" Leslie sighed "But then again when has a Leslie Knope Party ever failed?"

A C R O S S the room, Garry had finally made it out of his corner.

"Hey, Jack" Garry waved, this makes the slightly shy boy cower behind his mother, April herself frowned slightly as she goes to fix his hair, more out of comfort than appearance.

Since Jack was born, April mostly saw the Andy in him, from his nose to the way his lips curled when he smiled but his social behaviour definitely took after her which she didn't seem too fond of.

"Really , honestly, good job April, Jack is so dashing and you, you're such a beautiful mother"

April's nose scrunched upwards "Ew! Gross Garry, don't compliment me or I'm going to have to bathe in pigs blood to get your grossness off of me".

Jack, sensing April's distress, popped his head out from behind her leg "No, Harry!"

This immediately brought a smile to April's face as she chuckled "Yeah, no Harry ! Haha, you're Harry now!"

"Yeah, Harry go make yourself useful and go get me some more of those li'l shrimpies" Tom threw his dish at the mayor before walking away in Leslie's direction.

"Hello Leslie"

The blonde flinched as the unmistakable voice, of what was perhaps the blonde's least favourite Pawnee citizen, rang behind her.

"Orin-" She turned around, her eyes narrowed in what is almost disgust, to see the pale, almost ghost-like, boy, in a giant fat baby costume. "What have you been up to? Other than killing small puppies, I assume".

"I'm running a flower business" he extended his arm out towards a bouquet of colourfully arranged flowers on a table next to a stack of gifts.

"Oh" Leslie allowed herself to dissolve her tenseness, her lips pursed down as if she was impressed "Those are actually quite lovely".

"Yes, we grow the flowers from the ashes of the recently deceased".

Leslie sighed, her finger-wagging towards the creepy man "Yup, there it is".

As Leslie turned to talk to literally anyone else that was in Ann's house, all three of her kids, as well as the Perkins-Traeger's, ran in front of her, yelling and whooping and playing tag.

Leslie Perkin-Traeger or Lia, for short, had seemed to be the target as she was ahead of everyone, running for what seemed to be her life when all of a sudden she ran into a plant pot, making her fall on the ground, the rest fo the kids now to distracted by tagging Westly to care.

April had been sitting on the couch next to the incident, being she was nine months pregnant, tired and she had a pretty good view of her son who calmly played with his dinosaur toys on the carpet in front of her.

She wasn't' too sure where in the house her husband was but she could hear the details of his conversation as Chris said "This gluten-free, vegan sandwich is LITERALLY the best thing I've ever eaten. . . except for a rich kale and chia seed smoothie, of course".

Figuring she was the only one who saw it, she stood up, "Hey, Lia, are you okay?"

The little girl simply shook her head, her sniffling a telltale sign that she wasn't.

"'C'mon" she helped Lia stand up, wincing herself as she watched the little brunette's face scrunch up in pain.

Slowly April helped the little girl over to the bathroom, sitting her on the sink's counter to the best of her ability.

April opened the medicine cabinet to the left of Lia, the willpower of her seemingly under a test as she refused her desire to go through Ann's things.

"When I was younger, my sister, Natalie pushed me into a rose bush" April looked into Lia's wet and unsure eyes, unscrewing the lid of some sort of ointment Ann had in her cabinet.

"Yeah it wasn't fun, I had thorns everywhere, and when I took them out they all bled, I looked like someone went crazy with a voodoo doll".

A small, but not disappointing laugh rose from Lia, that enough had made April smile herself, she then carefully she applied a small amount of medicine to the cut.

"You know" April tore the plaster open with her teeth, applying it to the scrape "Maybe if you plant this in your garden, you'll grow a zombie tree!"

"Wow, really? You think so, Auntie April?"

"There's only one way to try it" she helped lower Lia to the ground "And make sure to go show your bloody knee to uncle tom okay? He loves blood! Especially when you get it on all his clothes! And if he screams, its screams of joy! "

"Cool! Thanks, Auntie April" Just like that Lia was already running off, probably interested in the fact of playing with all her "cousins' again, she didn't make it to far, however, as she left the bathroom she yelled a "Hi mom, bye mom!" Before the sound of her running feet could no longer be heard.

April mentally prepared herself, a slight eye roll as she looked up "Oh hi, I didn't know Leslie hired a prostitute for my party!"

Ann herself dry laughed as she leaned against her bathroom wall "hahaha very funny April"

The two shared the same awkward silence as April continued to clean up after herself, making eye contact with Ann only through stolen glances, courtesy of the mirror.

"You're pretty good at that" She tried a compliment.

"Well, Andy gets hurt a lot, and I have a curious and clumsy two-year-old. . . not that it's any of your business, Zoilist" April scowled back.

"Look April, I just wanted to say thank you"

"For what? Throwing away all your ugly clothes?"

"No, for helping Lia" Ann paused for a moment her head tilted slightly "Wait, you didn't actually throw away all my clothes, right?"

A smile cracked on April's lips as she shuts the medicine cabinet "It wasn't a big deal. I mean, Lia is cool, I guess, which is totally weird considering that she's related to you"

"Listen, can I show you something" Ann stood up straight, heading in the direction of the bathroom's door, April herself hesitated slightly.

"Okay, fine, but If you lock me up in your dungeon and keep me as your elf, I'm going to be upset"

Ann took the pregnant girl halfway across the house, not a single step without a complaint before they made it to Ann's bedroom.

"Ew, you're not going to try some weird sex thing right?"

"No, April, can you just shut up for one second?" Ann shook her head, momentarily leaving April alone as she ventures into her closet coming back with a small blue bag.

"I was going to give this to you next week, but right now seems like a good time" Ann put the bag in April's lap, sitting down on her bed beside her pregnant 'friend'.

April cautiously opened the bag, inside, the baby name book she had given Ann so many years prior.

April's eyes teared up slightly as she leaned in for a hug "Thank you".

Around five minutes later, Leslie made her way into Ann's bedroom, trying to find her best friend to complain that Ron has already eaten all the meat at the party when she stumbled upon the two sitting on the bed leafing through the pages.

"What about Daphne ?"

"Mmmm maybe, I think I'd have to use the middle name Lucifer though".

"Okay, moving on-" Ann flipped the page her finger landing on a name "Landon?"

April's nose scrunched up "Ew, No"

Besides her wedding, the birth of her three perfect children, and that one time Joe Biden had complimented her pantsuit, At that moment, standing at an accidental party with her dearest parks friends, er, family was the happiest moment of Leslie's life.


	2. are we okay.. knope

J A C K L U D G A T E - D W Y E R, was a happy, rarely grumpy, two-year-old to both of his parent's relief.

Leslie had taken the new mother "hostage" [April's exact words as she complained to her husband that night ] a month or two after April had her son to tell her all about her experiences raising triplets.

The horror stories Leslie had were even enough to scare the ever-loving shit out of the otherwise fearless and deadpanned April Ludgate to the point she almost questioned why she agreed to have kids in the first place.

The hundreds of diapers, hours of crying, teething and all the spit-up, but above everything, the thing that scared April the most about her son growing up was the dreaded "terrible twos".

The foggy, slightly rainy Halloween morning Jack turned two, April half expected the world to shake as whatever demon was going to possess her toddler made its appearance into the new parent's lives.

But to both Andy and especially April [who seemed to be less tolerable to sudden meltdowns] the terrible twos never seemed to come to cross their little Jack.

However, instead of temper tantrums about almost anything imaginable, came a new side to Jack that, while not nearly as detrimental as the terrible twos, seemed to bring a whole new set of challenges.

Jack had become almost strangely and unexplainably needy, especially towards April.

At first, Jack started to hold onto hugs a little longer, that slowly became wanting to always sit in between his two parents, then making April stay in his bed till he fell asleep at night, to eventually, clinging onto April at every chance he could get.

The fact that her son seemed to love her so much that he literally wouldn't let go made April feel like all her insecurities about being a bad mom had washed away when she held him in her arms and he clanged back.

She also knew how genuinely happy Andy was knowing that she was so content with her life as a mother, but the fact that she was nine months pregnant and constantly having to entertain a two-year-old was straining and so tiring to the fact that April thought she was going to lose her mind.

Leslie expedited into city hall, a stack of folders all with pressing matters pinned under her arms and a million and one thoughts running through her ever-busy mind.

If it wasn't for the lightest pull of a tiny hand against the hem of her slacks, followed by the sweet voice that called out "Auntie Laslie !", the blonde probably would have never stopped, power walking all the way to Indianapolis in her determination.

"Jack!" She exclaimed, honestly surprised to see the toddler at the office.

She placed the stack of papers on the nearest desk as she kneeled down, reaching the young boy's height, hand going on his shoulder "What are you doing here, Buddy?"

"Mommy!" He excitedly smiled in return, his tiny fist-waved somewhere in the background in all of his two-year-old-excitement.

Leslie nodded, returning to her normal height before grabbing Jack's hand and dragging him in the general direction of where he pointed.

"Hey, Harry" Leslie approached the older man, taking a few steps back once she realised that he was pouring a cup of coffee, she had been spilt on by the klutz to many times to not be prepared.

"Hello, Leslie! I was just stopping by to get some coffee before I head out to give a speech. I mean isn't it just such an amazing day, not a cloud in sight and I-"

Leslie raises her hand, shaking it slightly "Okay, I don't care, have you seen April?"

"She's in the conference room-" Garry smiled down at Jack, waving, but being his mother's son, the small boy retreated behind Leslie, making a face in the mayor's direction "April left this handsome little guy with Donna but she had to go because something with a twilight reboot, she thought he'd be fine since me and a few other people are here".

"God, Harry, I didn't ask for your whole life story" Leslie shakes her head almost disapproving as she makes her way to find her [alleged] godson's mother.

"Oh, sorry" He smiled to himself, turning back to the coffee pot before accidentally spilling the boiling hot coffee all over his crisp white shirt.

Leslie pushes the empty, and dark, conference room door open, out of almost sheer curiosity, she had copied April's itinerary and knew that she didn't have any appointments that afternoon. 

Sure enough, April sat in one of the chair's off to the corner, staring at the wall a few inches in front of her.

As soon as Jack saw her, he let out a shriek "Mommy!" His hands grabbed forward with so much strength that he broke free of Leslie's grasp.

April swivelled her chair to face the table and door where Leslie stood, more confused than ever.

"Hey, sweetheart," She said half-heartedly, in a cold, distant, almost not entirely their tone, as she raises the little boy into her lap.

"April?" The blonde called, inching closer.

She took a moment to answer, looking down to watch as Jack snuggled under her thick cardigan, to the best of his ability with April's pregnancy bump in the way, April supplied her hand on his back.

"I can't do this !" She whispered, mindful of the little boy snuggled against her, her tone was more like a harsh scream.

"Do what?"

"Have two kids, and work fifty-five hours a week and help with the campaign! I miss those days when I had nothing to do other than troll Justin Bieber online" her breathing started to get a little heavier, almost to the point of hyperventilation.

"And being pregnant totally sucks! I mean the stretchmarks and veins and weird cravings are fine but this kid won't stop kicking me !" April placed her free hand on her bump, her eyes narrowed "This isn't cute anymore, devil spawn !"

"April, you calm down-"

"No I can't calm down, I'm suing god! Satan too . . . no, he probably has really good lawyers".

Leslie looks towards the camera, a confused and hopeless gleam in her eye as she was completely stumped on what to do there.

Luckily for her though, hearing a tiny sniffle from her lap, April looked down, a frown immediately presents as she saw little tears streak down her son's face.

She let out an almost painful sigh. Even though she had described herself as a soulless vampire too many times to count in all of her years, the fact that she had just made her own child cry made her feel terrible.

"Jack-" Her hands went down to reach his little cheeks as she swiftly wiped away his tears with her thumbs.

"Monster's don't cry-" She forced a smile "That's like in the monster rule book, that they only get to make snotty children and mean witches cry-"

"But, I thought you were a witch, mama".

She playfully rolled her eyes to this, a smile slowly fading to her lips as she sensed her son's own happiness come back "I have a secret and I know you are the world-famous superspy Jack-Jack, so you won't tell anyone, right?"

"I won't! I won't!" He excitedly shouted, his, along with April's, freak out melting away quickly.

April leaned forward a little, careful of her stomach, she placed a hand on it, feeling the baby already angrily kickback from her sudden movement, her eyes widen with an expression that is closest to shock.

"So you know how mommy always says she's an evil witch? Well, sometimes I'm a good witch too, but you can't tell anyone because my good witch powers only work with certain people".

"Like Daddy?"

"Yeah, and Leslie-" she looked up, in a way to thank the blonde for trying to help.

"But most of all my little monster!" She smooshed her cheek against his, her hand reaching up to ruffle his little curls.

Leslie smiled to herself. her shoulders going back down in relief, she knew April would be okay.

D O N N A, H E R S E L F, was more than okay, exceptional, even.

Joe was working overtime for work, as he felt a need to stay after school and help rebuild the cafeteria after the great possum stampede mishap of 2026.

God, Donna loved her do-gooder husband, and she had her share of do-gooder deeds, like that time she rebuilt an entire Costa Rican village on a two week holiday she went on with April, or the time she gave away enough clothes to supply an entire middle Asian country with a new fashionable wardrobe.

But , Donna also equally loved the bath her maid had drawn from her an hour ago, complete with a bowl full of bath-bombs and all the Lush products she could carry out of the mall.

She lounged on her massive couch, her Gucci robe hugging her, as she admired her skin, the window behind her made her glow, it really was the true midweek treat yo self-experience.

"Hey Olga, can you get me a seltzer water?" Donna waved from the couch, too much invested in the episode of scandal she was watching to get up.

Nothing.

A great wild passed before Donna sighed, getting up herself as she mumbled: "If you can't even get me a water why do I pay you?"

Not even two steps into the kitchen she noticed shattered glass spread across her marble floors, the broken sky-high window to the left of her the obvious subject.

"The hell?" She bends down to pick up one of the larger shards, when she looked back up a tall figure loomed over her, making her jump back a few inches out of the sheer shock.

When the reality around her began to make sense again, she opened her mouth to speak, still shocked "Lavondrius ?"

"I'm surprised you even remember my name, how long has it been since you called your baby brother again? Fifteen years?"

Donna purses her lips, her finger pointing at him angrily "Okay, don't even, you haven't called me either".

"Well, I'm not the one that ruined the entire family!" He shouts, making Donna flinch.

Before she could even try to voice her opinion, Lavondrius was already speaking again, his head shaking "And to think, I was going to be the better person, which I mean I already am, but still, I was this close-" He raises his hand, his index finger and thumb pinched together so closely that barely any space was between them. "To coming and apologising for what happened with the microwave all those years ago and start over-"

Suddenly, Lavondrius' voice was soft as he looked up at Donna with an expression she could only identify as guilt. "Because after all, we are brother and sister and when we do work together, it's great, like that time we won America's next top model".

Donna nodded, starting to think of the very select but good memories her and her brother shared. The idea of ending their decades-long feud and calling a truce, in true petty Meagel's fashion, Lavondruis was yelling again.

"But then you had to go behind my back and snatch Aunt Louise's house? Bitch, the hell?" He pivots to his side, his eyes full of anger. "This house was supposed to go to me, but just like my sense of fashion, my Golden Girl DVDs and my boyfriends, you had to take this away from me!" too!"

"Okay don't even" Donna matched his tone, her own anger lighting up from within her "Your boyfriends all left you for me because I mean hello have you seen me?" Her hand trailed up her shape as she continues. "And I didn't steal anything from you, I got the house because Aunt Louise liked me the most"

Lavondrius mouth hung open as he inched closer to her.

"Donna Electra Marie Meagel, you take that back".

"No" She challenged, her eyes narrowing in pure spite, "She told me on one of the family cruises we all took without you".

"Mom said that everyone was just giving an intervention to uncle Karl!" Lavondrius turned away, breaking the tension.

"mhm, for a whole week?"

Lavondrius shook his head, his teeth biting down on his lower lip "This is not over girl , you took something from me so now I'm going to take something from you" his voice dropped at the end of his sentence, the words spewing from his mouth were almost sinister.

Donna looked around and the pieces clicked in her head faster than a puzzle from one of her and Joe's puzzle marathon nights.

Her hand reached up to cover her gaping mouth, her eyes widened "You killed Olga?!"

"Girl" Lavandruis clicked his tongue "I might be slightly unhinged but I did not kill your maid, what I meant was that I'd probably swipe one of your purses or something ".

Donna's hand lowered as she just blinked at the man standing in front of her "Get out of my house".

"This won't be the last time you'll see me, be prepared for the war Donna" With that he steps back, awkwardly moving his body to match the opening he had created in the shattered window, in an attempt to get out of the house, one of his legs now just dangling out into the grass.

"Can I just use the door?" He finally snapped, looking back at Donna as he retreated his leg from the window

"Just go," Donna said annoyed, as she walks away in another direction.

A N O T H E R U N B E K N O W N S T visitor made their way to city hall.

"Hey!" Ann peaked her head into Leslie's office as an attempted greeting.

Feeling something graze her back she frows her eyebrows "Do you know why April and her kid are flinging pens across the office?"

"April's going a little crazy, just ignore her-"

"I'm always trying-" Ann scrunched up her eyebrows together as another pen flew behind her followed by April yelling "Good Job, Monster, but aim for the first human-dog hybrid next time"

"Anyway, am I interrupting something?" Ann lifts her head in the direction of Ron who was pushing the side of a bookshelf.

"Oh, Ron was just fixing up a few things, but I can make some tea if you want! oh oh oh, the three of us can have a nice little pillow talk!"

"No need, I don't like small talk and tea is for the Europeans, I am now leaving" He collected his things ignoring Leslie's pleading eyes as he walks past Ann

"Goodbye, nurse".

"I'm not a nurse anymore!" She called after him, but there is no use as he was already out the door.

"So what are you doing here?" Leslie's entire face lit up with pure excitement as she looked up at her best friend.

"I just dropped the kids off at school and I have an hour to kill before pilates".

"Your life is so exciting and fun! Now tell me, what's troubling that perfect little mind of yours?"

Ann moved to sit in the chair directly in front of Leslie's desk, as she looks down, she gets a strange pang in her chest.

Photos upon photos of Leslie and Ben, a few of the triplets, Meghan Markle, Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, other women that Ann still didn't recognise, and of course a half dozen of her and Joe Biden, plus an odd photo of Joe eating what appeared to be a subway footlong, that Ann didn't want to question how Leslie obtained it in the first place.

Ann shifts uncomfortably in her chair, shaking her head, as the overwhelming urge to cry coming over her "No, my life isn't exciting it's sad and repetitive and boring!"

"Ann, you're a timeless and poetic okapi but I swear if you ever talk about yourself like that again I will have to enrol you in intense psychotherapy" Leslie looked off to the distant, cursing under her breath "No nevermind, you're too perfect and amazing to punish".

"I'm serious" Ann lowers her gaze, her eyes focused on her pretty pink nails as they drop into her lap "I don't know Leslie, I just feel like my life is aimless like I have no direction."

"What do you mean? You have plenty of things to do, I mean you seem as busy as me"

"Yeah, busy doing dumb pointless things to fill my time, I mean I am awful at yoga, I still don't know what the hell a child's pose is"

"But that's just one thing, I mean your family is beautiful and you make sure they are taken care of!"

Ann finally looks up from her lap "Back when I was single I took the personality of whoever I was dating, then I was just Leslie Knope's best friend for a while before I got married, had kids, quit my job to take care of my family. I'm not even 'the nurse' anymore, I'm just some sad, bored housewife whose only hobby is selling handmade friendship bracelets on Etsy".

"I love your friendship bracelets!" Leslie lifts her arm slightly so that it's in Ann's view, pulling her navy blazer's sleeve down her arm to reveal nineteen or twenty of the yarn woven bracelets all with individually unique charms dangling from them.

". .. Those are meant for two people"

Leslie waves her hand in the air to dismiss that thought. "Ann, you are not a loser, you're an amazing person, an amazing wife and the best friend anyone could ever have".

"That's exactly it Leslie, I don't want to be anyone's anything anymore, I just want to be Ann Perkins, her own brilliant and heroic starfish- er- person!"

"Your metaphor isn't there yet but we'll get there!"

Ann, herself frowned the sadness and resentment that had been building up within her for the last several years, now all coming down over her.

"Yeah-" She puts on a brave face for Leslie's sake as she was almost more vulnerable to Ann's feelings than Ann herself "Well, let's hope you're right".

O U T S I D E, T H E M A I N pod right outside Leslie's office, was pretty much empty other than April who sat at a desk she had claimed as her own, Jack playing with his toys under the desk beneath her.

Ron was also in the corner of the room, fixing one of the broken legs of a table he had spotted and felt obligated to fix before he left.

When the door swung open, April immediately stood up, greeting her husband with a kiss.

"Hey, how was school?" She pulls away from his lips.

"Pretty good, the teacher gave me a gold star, see!" He raises the back of his hand to show his wife the metallic star stuck against his hand.

"They still do that in college?"

"Not usually-" He gives her a confident look, "Teach said it was only for the special students"

April shook her a tiny laugh following as she saw Jack come running up once he saw his dad "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Mama and I put glue in Harry's milk and, and, and-" He continued to ramble on all his words mixing together to the point he was no longer coherent, but his excitement prevailed.

"Sounds like you and mommy had a fun day then, Bud" He ruffles Jack's hair slightly, looking up at April with an impressed look.

"Now we can go home and have more fun like building stuff with legos and be pretend dinosaur fighters-" Andy's face lit up like his sons only moments earlier.

"Oooh, then we can have a monster meal!" Appropriately named, a monster meal was a combination of all the leftover takeaway the family had accumulated in a week.

April hated cooking, and Andy had become busy with all of his schoolwork, so their excessive delivery takeaway, amounted in a lot of extra food.

"I really want to" April frowned, a whine escaping from her lips as she takes Andy's hand in hers and swinging it slightly, her thumb grazing the edge of the sticker on his hand "But, I have a few more lame things to do before I can go home"

"Awww, okay, well, in that case, I guess I have monster duty!" He announced, swinging down to grab his son in a single swoop making the toddler erupt in laughter.

"Have fun, and don't be a hellion" She squished his face with her pointer finger and thumb to make him look like he had fish lips" Or do, maybe Satan will join you for a playdate, that could be fun. Bye monster" she waves him off with a tiny forehead kiss and with that, her two boys were gone.

Ron from the background approached the brunette once he saw Andy leave.

"April," Ron nods his head as a greeting.

"Ron," she replied just as awkwardly, stretching her body forward to receive a reluctant hug for the older man, her giant stomach a well-received buffer in between the two.

"You look very well" He pulled away, his hand going to reach her shoulder, an awkward pat or two before he retrieved it back quickly.

"Thanks, it's all the souls of newborn babies I eat, they really keep me young".

"Yes, well, I have a question-" he goes straight into his intent of the conversation in true Ron fashion, not bothered to acknowledge her joke. "How do you um, connect with that small child?"

"You mean Jack . . . my son?"

"Yes"

"Umm, I dunno" she answered sceptically, knowing that Ron had met Jack many times before "He's just a really awesome kid, I guess"

Ron debated to stop talking altogether and to just go on his way, after all, that sounded like the better option, but he bit his inner cheek, his eyes looking upwards at the girl he always considered to be like one of his daughters "Well, I have recently found it hard to connect with Jon".

April now cocks her head slightly, in all the times that she had known Ron he had only gone to her once or twice on serious issues that he granted important enough to talk about.

"And while I would usually appreciate the quietness, I feel like we are growing distant and it is making me feel-" His face scrunches up as he grits, almost gagging to get the emotional words out "Feel like an unfit father".

April's face softened, initially scared that Ron was going to say he was dying or something, but this almost seemed to be worst.

"I don't know, maybe try to relate to him, do something together, that's what I do with my son. What does he talk like?"

Ron thinks for a moment "The boy likes to talk a lot and I'm not too quite sure what anything he says means but he's mentioned something called drag?"

Seeing the pain in his eyes and how genuinely perplexed he seemed, she forces a smile 'Try talking more to him, I guess, I mean what's the worst that can happen? You realise he's part of Zorp and he tries to kill you?"

"Very well-" Ron's head as he shook his head, satisfied with her answer he grabs his toolbox from a nearby table "Thank you, April"

When he went home that night, he would try to talk to his son.

what's the worst that could happen? Rang through his head.

A T T H E E N D of a long and very stressful day for all of the [classically nicknamed by Tom and Donna] campaign gang, Leslie and Ben settled down for the night.

"The kids are all asleep" Leslie claps her hands triumphantly as she makes her way to join her husband, sat on the couch, in the opposite direction of her. "I almost had to claw the game controller out of Westly's grip and I'm pretty sure that there is a kid-shaped-hole in the wall between Sonia and Stephen's room, but the kids are asleep".

The blonde walked to the kitchen counter, placing the aforementioned controller down next to a stack of budget spreadsheets, making her way over to the couch, but Ben still hadn't responded. 

"Oh, and don't forget, Sonia has ice skating and debate tomorrow, Wesley has a chess match and Stephen has football" She counts the things off of each of her fingers when she looked up, she saw Ben wagging his own finger at her as he was on the phone.

A moment or two passes before he hung up, setting the phone on the couch beside him with a worried expression as his fingers fumbled around him until he grasped the remote "That was Jen, she called and said to turn on the tv immediately"

With that, the TV turned on, and sure enough, the Joan show played.

The hostesses were joined by Marsha Lang, Perd Haply, the Douche, and Greg Pikitis [An up and coming Pawnee politician] as they sat in a semi-circle discussing the most recent of politics.

"You know I've never liked Leslie Knope" Joan shook her head at all the other guests "She's never been the strongest candidate and that shows"

Marsha Lang nodded her head in agreement "If you ask me, Leslie Knope is incredibly profane and dirty and honestly, the other candidate's beliefs reflect Pawnee better."

"I am Perd Haply and what I am saying is that I agree" The news anchor looked into the camera.

"When I was a kid she tped my house and then framed me" Greg added which stirred up an entirely new conversation lead my Marsha and her believes on 'how toilet paper has become too liberal'

Leslie chooses to ignore that as the reality of her world closed in on her.

A month or two ago all the candidates for the next Indiana Governor were announced.

One of them an accomplished professor from Bloomington, she was the only real threat. The others a pair of ex-siamese twins who ran together, a former co-star if Brandi Maxxx turned nun, and a man that ran an edible soap business from his truck.

The fact that a new person was running, from the same town as her, that she had the possibility of knowing shook Leslie down to her very core.

"Someone else from Pawnee is running against me? How is that possible, I thought it was too late to get on the ballad?"

Ben smacked his lips together feeling as Leslie sat down next to him "No, not necessarily, they can still be written in"

"Who in Pawnee could possibly want to be governor?!"


End file.
